Over the course of the last two weeks, Microsoft has been waging in a public dispute with the European Commission (EC). The EC has raised questions about whether or not Windows Vista complies with the group's antitrust regulations. In response, Microsoft has said that, if the EC doesn't clarify what it wants from the company, it may be forced to delay a ready-to-ship Windows Vista operating system beyond January—emphasis on ready-to-ship. After watching this mess unfold, the Gartner team decided to release a report (PDF) on what it believes is going to happen, and as expected, it's ridden with sensationalism.
The report not only claims that Microsoft will delay Vista's European launch, but that the company will delay Vista's North American launch as well. The estimated delay would push Vista's worldwide debut back to, at the very least, May. Don't think that the EC's nitpicking is the only reason that Vista would be postponed, either
|